Though posing a somewhat bizarre delay in a lengthy trial,
police dogs that understand Slavic languages are not an oddity. Many of these
animal partners are foreign born and receive basic training in native tongues. The decision to switch or maintain languages then falls to their
English-speaking human counterparts.

The New JerseyState Police canine unit consists of dogs cross-trained in bomb and drug detection,
who are not uniformly trained in a language, said spokesman Lt. Stephen
Jones.

"We do not train dogs exclusively in a foreign
language," Jones said. "It's up to the individual handler."

The unit assists police departments of Warren and Hunterdon
counties, since few departments have their own K-9 officers. The dogs generally
fall into three types of breeds: German shepherd, Belgian malinois or a
cross-breed of the two, said state police Sgt. Archer Jones, supervisor of the
state police CanineAcademy.
The dogs hail from various European countries, including Slovakia,
Hungary and Poland,
he said.

"There's no real specific country we get them from," he said.

The canines learn basic commands in their home countries. This
serves as the foundation for their training overseas, said Ben Malnoid, who was
president of the North American Police Work Dog Association for 12 years and is
a master trainer with the organization. Malnoid, who worked as a K-9 officer
for about 20 of his 30 years as a Virginia
police officer, said that sometimes officers will choose to build on their partner's
native language, while others will find the foreign language too difficult to
articulate. He said that switching languages is relatively easy.

"They can become bilingual very quickly," he said. "It is
just a matter of associating the old command with the new command."

A benefit of sticking with the dog's language is that it's
harder for "the bad guys" to replicate commands to confuse the animal, Malnoid
said — a sentiment Sipel expressed during Frey's trial.

"Nobody out there is going to be giving them the German
commands," Malnoid said.

Ultimately, language is secondary to the bond between handler
and dog — the animal is trained to respond to its partner's voice.

Wilson
Borough Police Chief Steven Parkansky said that the newest addition to his
police force — Rex, a Belgian malinois and Dutch shepherd mix — understands
Dutch commands. He said in his experience, most police canines take orders in
foreign languages. The department's previous dog, Axel, understood German. Parkansky
said that using a different language can help protect officers, but that ultimately,
the more important association is between the voice speaking the command and the animal.